"low-down" meaning in English

See low-down in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈləʊ.daʊn/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈloʊ.daʊn/ [US] Audio: En-au-low-down.ogg Forms: more low-down [comparative], most low-down [superlative], lowdown [alternative]
Rhymes: -aʊn Head templates: {{en-adj}} low-down (comparative more low-down, superlative most low-down)
  1. (slang) Of a person, worthless, contemptibly of no value; despicable. Tags: slang
    Sense id: en-low-down-en-adj-eChk1doO Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 14 32 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 62 25 13 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 77 14 9
  2. Down, depressed. Categories (topical): People
    Sense id: en-low-down-en-adj-y-kU4Mp1 Disambiguation of People: 1 88 12

Noun

IPA: /ˈləʊ.daʊn/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈloʊ.daʊn/ [US] Audio: En-au-low-down.ogg Forms: low-downs [plural], lowdown [alternative]
Rhymes: -aʊn Head templates: {{en-noun}} low-down (plural low-downs)
  1. An abject or despicable person.
    Sense id: en-low-down-en-noun-FYW2MR7r

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more low-down",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most low-down",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lowdown",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "low-down (comparative more low-down, superlative most low-down)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "54 14 32",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 25 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 14 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:",
          "text": "Seemingly here was an intruder who was violating custom. Moreover, the partners had come to look upon this exceedingly rich district as their exclusive property. And so their indignation was extreme.\n\"The low-down, ornery cuss!\" said Dobbs. \"The nerve of him, crowdin' in on us, just as if there wasn't lots of other places for him to go!\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 151:",
          "text": "You get out of me kitchen, you low-down scrounger! I ain't going to have you in here, giving me cheek to me face and drinkin' beer I got to pay for.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree, page 16:",
          "text": "No-count. Even low-down. I still don't see how Loma could of married into that sharecropper white trash.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a person, worthless, contemptibly of no value; despicable."
      ],
      "id": "en-low-down-en-adj-eChk1doO",
      "links": [
        [
          "worthless",
          "worthless"
        ],
        [
          "value",
          "value"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) Of a person, worthless, contemptibly of no value; despicable."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "1 88 12",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Weird Al Yankovic, “Hardware Store”, in Poodle Hat:",
          "text": "Nothing ever happens in this town, feeling low-down, not a lot to do around here.\nI thought that I would go right out of my mind until my friend told me the news.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Down, depressed."
      ],
      "id": "en-low-down-en-adj-y-kU4Mp1"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈləʊ.daʊn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈloʊ.daʊn/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-low-down.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/73/En-au-low-down.ogg/En-au-low-down.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/En-au-low-down.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊn"
    }
  ],
  "word": "low-down"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "low-downs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lowdown",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "low-down (plural low-downs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 2, William W. Johnstone, A Dangerous Man, Pinnacle Books, →ISBN, page 94:",
          "text": "He was a lowdown because white men made him that way. Don't you agree?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An abject or despicable person."
      ],
      "id": "en-low-down-en-noun-FYW2MR7r",
      "links": [
        [
          "abject",
          "abject"
        ],
        [
          "despicable",
          "despicable"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈləʊ.daʊn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈloʊ.daʊn/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-low-down.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/73/En-au-low-down.ogg/En-au-low-down.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/En-au-low-down.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊn"
    }
  ],
  "word": "low-down"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/aʊn",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more low-down",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most low-down",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lowdown",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "low-down (comparative more low-down, superlative most low-down)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:",
          "text": "Seemingly here was an intruder who was violating custom. Moreover, the partners had come to look upon this exceedingly rich district as their exclusive property. And so their indignation was extreme.\n\"The low-down, ornery cuss!\" said Dobbs. \"The nerve of him, crowdin' in on us, just as if there wasn't lots of other places for him to go!\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 151:",
          "text": "You get out of me kitchen, you low-down scrounger! I ain't going to have you in here, giving me cheek to me face and drinkin' beer I got to pay for.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree, page 16:",
          "text": "No-count. Even low-down. I still don't see how Loma could of married into that sharecropper white trash.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a person, worthless, contemptibly of no value; despicable."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "worthless",
          "worthless"
        ],
        [
          "value",
          "value"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) Of a person, worthless, contemptibly of no value; despicable."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Weird Al Yankovic, “Hardware Store”, in Poodle Hat:",
          "text": "Nothing ever happens in this town, feeling low-down, not a lot to do around here.\nI thought that I would go right out of my mind until my friend told me the news.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Down, depressed."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈləʊ.daʊn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈloʊ.daʊn/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-low-down.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/73/En-au-low-down.ogg/En-au-low-down.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/En-au-low-down.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊn"
    }
  ],
  "word": "low-down"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/aʊn",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "low-downs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lowdown",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "low-down (plural low-downs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 2, William W. Johnstone, A Dangerous Man, Pinnacle Books, →ISBN, page 94:",
          "text": "He was a lowdown because white men made him that way. Don't you agree?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An abject or despicable person."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "abject",
          "abject"
        ],
        [
          "despicable",
          "despicable"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈləʊ.daʊn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈloʊ.daʊn/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-low-down.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/73/En-au-low-down.ogg/En-au-low-down.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/En-au-low-down.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊn"
    }
  ],
  "word": "low-down"
}

Download raw JSONL data for low-down meaning in English (3.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.